Friday, January 29, 2010

On 28 Jan 2010, the detailed roadmap of Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) was unveiled.

This GTP roadmap is crucial to catch up the progress to reach Vision 2020 in time, and it is indeed well written. It is better late than none that, after almost 2 decades Vision 2020 launched, and only left with 1 decade to fulfil, finally the government come out with a more solid action plan on how to achieve the vision.

The GTP roadmap details the objectives, outcomes and the initial set of actions in areas identified as National Key Result Areas (NKRAs) and Ministerial Key Result Areas (MKRAs, mentioned in Budget 2010 speech).

The NKRAs cover 6 areas which have been the long time concerns (and frustrations) of the citizens:

Reducing crime

Fighting corruption

Improving student outcomes

Raising living standards of low-income households

Improving rural basic infrastructure

Improving urban public transport

Since his ruling, Najib has come out with a few propagandas and slogans such as 1Malaysia, NKRAa, MKRAs, MKPIs, GTP, etc. It is hope that they put real action in it towards a real transformation and a better future, if not, probably we should elect for an alternative ruling party to bring in the long awaited transformation (perhaps... reformation).

Thursday, January 28, 2010

There are many perspective to view someone as a good manager. The following 11 principle elements of a good manager are listed in a management course I've attended, which I find the list is a good measurement as well as direction.

Know yourself and seek self-improvement

Be technically proficient and know your job well

Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions

Make sound and timely decisions

Set the example and be a good role model

Know your people and look out for their well-being

Keep your workers informed

Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers

Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished

Train as a real team, not just a group of people

Use the full capabilities of your organization by developing a team spirit

Good manager are made, not born. Therefore, we should develop ourselves to be better and better.

Friday, January 22, 2010

By using the SearchStatus add-on, you can show at the status bar of your browser, the Google PageRank and Alexa popularity ranking of all the websites you are browsing.

This allows you to have a rough idea about the website's link importance and traffic importance, which is referenced by major search engines and Internet advertising services.

It could be useful to bloggers and webmasters in improving SEO for their websites. For example, you might want to get the high ranking websites to link to your own website, and SearchStatus can immediately tell you if the website you are visiting is of high ranking or not.

SearchStatus is available as add-in extension for Firefox and SeaMonkey. Beside Google PageRank and Alexa popularity ranking, it can also show the Compete.com ranking and SEOmoz Linkscape mozRank as well. It is also able to provide many Internet search related information of the website through its extensive menu items.

For Internet Explorer users, SearchStatus is included as a plug-in in the IE7Pro add-on. IE7Pro is a very famous plug-in which can be used in IE 6, IE 7 or IE 8 to enhance tremendously the IE features and usability.

Note that the last version of IE7Pro is 2.4.7, released on 16 Sep 2009. Its development and maintenance has stopped at this point.

The SearchStatus plug-in in IE7Pro is not on by default, but it is very simple to turn it on and include it in the IE's status bar.

Note that in order to gather information to produce the ranking statistic:

CyberSecurity Malaysia is going to organize an information security networking forum and cocktail event to provide Information Security practitioners an avenue to collaborate and sharing knowledge, enabling them to keep abreast with the latest industry trends and development.

It is also a platform for strengthening the ability to protect information assets from the ever-changing cyber threat vectors.

For participants with information security professional qualifications from recognized bodies, CPE points will be awarded based on the terms and conditions set forth by the respective certifying bodies.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

It seems that nowadays there are more and more unsolicited calls from telemarketer, as well as spam SMS flying around. I use MCleaner to tackle them.

MCleaner is a shareware firewall for smart phones, able to filter short messages (SMS), multimedia messages (MMS), push messages, wap bookmark as well as incoming calls. This will keep you away from disturbance of spam messages, harassing calls, etc.

MCleaner can be installed in smart phones running on UIQ3, Symbian S60, Linux, iPhone, etc. There are different version for different OS, with different user interface but similarity in features and functions.

Filtering is processed by rulesets in your Whitelist and Blacklist, as well as your mobile phone's Contact list.

There are 4 blocking modes available:

Phone busy tone

Mute ringtone

Busy and reply SMS

Divert call to another number

If you want to reject incoming call/SMS/MMS at a specified period only, this can be done with the Scheduler. For example, you can block all stranger calls in midnight, yet still allowing calls from those in your Whitelist and Contact list.

MCleaner is able to auto-start when your phone is power on, and automatically run the blocking service in the background. It can show an alert icon when there is any blocked call or message.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

When you are stopped or visited by somebody who claims to be police, how should you identify if the person is an authorized police or a faked one? What should you respond and what is your basic rights?

The Malaysian Bar (Badan Peguam Malaysia) published the famous Red Book: Police and Your Basic Rights (Polis Dan Hak-hak Asas Anda) in 2006 to inform citizens and non-citizens in Malaysia of their basic rights vis-à-vis the police.

Further to the overwhelming respond to the Red Book, they've then produced a 2 pages Redbook Pamphlet that outlines the powers of the police in relation to arrests, body searches and the remand process, and the public’s rights when stopped and questioned, and during detention.

The flowchart below is produced based on the information regarding public’s rights when stopped and questioned by police.

Make sure you ask for the Police Authority Card (Kad Kuasa Polis) from the officer when stopped. There are 4 different possible colours:

Blue: Rank of Inspector and above

Yellow: Below the rank of Inspector

White: Reserve police

Red: Suspended Police Officer. He has no authority to do anything to you. Walk away.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Just received an SMS from a number +60145512667 (a Celcom number huh!) saying that I've won RM15,000 cash. I wonder how they got my number, or they just send by random?

Well, this is it...

It is a very obvious scam SMS which trap their ignorance and greedy victims.

From the commercial point of view, no company will give you large amount of money for no reason. Do you notice that those genuine commercial contests will require you to buy something from them, or read their advertisement, or do something for them (such as promoting them, etc.) or at least fill up a form (and thus... give your detail to their marketing department), before you can even join the contest and have a very limited chance to win?

This SMS is full of spelling, grammar, punctuation mistakes. If want to scam also write properly lah!

If a company requires you to call a number, it is always either a toll-free line, or a fixed line. You must get very suspicious if they ask you to call a mobile line, and don't even provide a name of the person at the other end.

If they make use of some commonly known company name, such as Power Root, you can always call their office to check. Obtain their office number from their official website or trusted printed media, instead of the one provided in the SMS.

If you still believe that you are so lucky to win, you can call in the number, but remember not to bank in even a single cent of money to them, not to disclose too much personal detail, especially not to disclose any of your bank number. If you want to accept the prize, make preference to walk in their office and receive a cheque, or receive by Paypal.

Friday, January 8, 2010

My kid is now attending a nearby half-day Montessori pre-school this year, and here are the expenses we've spent so far:

Registration: RM60

2 x uniform + 2 x sports wear: RM180

Insurance: RM20 / year

Kids Gazette: RM20 / year

Misc. fees: RM550 / year

Personal reading books (3 languages): RM30

School bag: RM50

2-way transportation by MPV: RM90 / month

Monthly fee: RM230 (need to pay 2 months during enrolment = RM460)

Total spent during enrolment = RM1,460
Subsequent months = RM320

The pre-school education is really very expensive in Klang Valley, and parents need to spend a lot during enrolment and for each subsequent months.

We've decided to let our kid attend the Montessori pre-school programme so that he can learn and master the 3 neccessary languages commonly used in Malaysia: English, Chinese and Malay. At the same time, it provides opportunity for him to play around with classmates from different ethics of Chinese, Indian and Malay.

Therefore, although the pre-school education is really very expensive, we still have to spend it.

PS: We feel sad that there are still some political gaffes trying to separate people from different ethics and/or religions who live in this same piece of land for so many years, and we really hope that our current and next generation can mix and unite together as Malaysian. Those political gaffes who like to create issue and tension should feel shameful to see the little boys and girls of young age can befriend and play around with each other without separation of ethics or religion.

If you are planning to buy, or are already the owner of, a property built on leasehold land, you might be wondering (or worrying) about what will happen and what should you do when the tenure of your leasehold land going to expire in the future.

In fact, the tenure can be renewed and extended to another 30, 60 or 99 years.

Section 197 of the National Land Code 1965 (Act 56 of 1965) governs the extension of land leases.

Before applying for an extension, the lease must be firstly surrendered back to the state government. Then, both the property developer and leasehold land owner(s) have to submit the Permohonan Serahbalik dan Mohon Semula Tanah Untuk Tujuan Melanjutkan Tempoh Pajakan form, together will all the required photocopied documents such as land title, site plan, quit rent receipt, assessment receipt, etc. to the state's land office.

If the lease already expired, the form need to submit will be Permohonan Pemberimilikan Tanah (Application for Land Re-alienation) instead.

The land will then be checked by a settlement officer, who will then submit a report to exco for approval.

After approval, the land will need to go through re-alienation process by the land administrator.

If the re-alienation is approved, the land office will issue a Notice that Land Revenue is Due (Form 5A) to the property owner to pay a premium.

The premium charged is based on a formula factoring the following into calculation:

Premium rate (in percentage)

Land size

Market value per square feet

Lease tenure period

For example, the renewal premium for a residential land at rate of 0.5% of size 25 x 80 with market value of RM20 psf for 99 years is:

0.5% x 25 x 80 x RM20 x 99 = RM19,800 (RM200 per year).

The land valuation is done by the Valuation and Property Services Department of Finance Ministry, and is based on the latest transaction values in the area.

If the owner feel that the premium is too high, he has the option to appeal to the state government for a reduction.

Upon payment of the premium, the land office will get the land title ready and inform the property owner when it is ready for collection.

If the owner does not renew the land tenure and let it expire, the land will revert back to the state government, and be available to anyone to apply for its new ownership.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

For the 1st post in 2010, I would like to share with you an interesting and good news from Taiwan.

Taiwanese couple Huang Huan-chang (黄焕彰) and Wu Shu-li (吴淑丽) who own the Kuanghsing Paper Factory (广兴纸寮) in Puli (埔里) started to make new environmentally friendly and edible paper products from an incredible variety of plants since 2007.

They have just showcased over 100 types of edible paper varieties at the "Paper Loves Taiwan – Top 100" (纸爱台湾 - 荣耀 100) exhibition on 23 December 2009.

Huang says the bittervine (薇甘菊) has severely damaged Taiwan landscape like a "green cancer", a name by which it is known in Chinese. They have successfully transform it into lovely art paper suitable for handicrafts or wrapping gifts, and can also be used for making decorations, CD covers and other projects, turning the "green cancer" into "green gold".

The couple also turns okra, peppers, tangerines and even radishes into natural, edible wrappings, without adding any traditional paper pulp at all. This type of edible paper can be used to wrap food for deep-frying, yielding a product that is both safe and delicious.